'Kiss of Love' organisers held in paedophile racket

A couple kisses

Thiruvananthapuram: Crime Branch wing of the Kerala police yesterday arrested Rahul Pasupalan and his wife Rashmi Nair for running an online sex racket and supplying minor girls.

A couple kisses outside RSS headquarters in Delhi during ‘Kiss of Love' event last year. The event was organised to protest against moral policing. File pic

The couple, pioneers of the last year's ‘Kiss of Love' protest against moral policing, was held in the wee hours yesterday from Kochi during a statewide crackdown against online sex rackets.

Police sources claimed that a person named Abdul Khadar alias Akbar is the kingpin of the racket. A native of Kasaragode, cops secured his cellphone number from a classified website. Using this number, they tracked down his accomplices who procured and supplied minors. Sources added that Akbar would lure prospective customers by first showing them Rashmi's photo, a model, and then slyly lead them to minor girls. They said Rashmi's social media updates have provided enough hints that the couple was involved is child trafficking as well.

A source claimed that the sex racket was busted after Crime Branch officers approached the couple posing as customers. They met Rashmi at a local hotel, where she had arranged for two minor girls. Cops said prima facie investigation revealed that the couple and Akbar have close links with Bengaluru-based child traffickers. They added that two of their women accomplices managed to escape during the raid.

"While circumstantial evidence points that the couple has been involved in the racket for the past three months, claims are being made that they were partners in crime for over a year - wooing customers with pictures of minors," a police officer said.